in the dark of the night
by wild wolf free17
Summary: Under the Red Hood drabbles; gen, slash, het, AU
1. a spot of blood

**Title**: a spot of blood

**Fandom**: Batman: Under the Red Hood

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: The only things I know about Barbara come from the 90s cartoon and Batman Beyond, and I don't know anything about her reaction/relationship with Jason Todd. Also, I don't know the timeline. If I'm off, just consider it AU. Also also, this is based on the recent _Under the Red Hood_ movie, because it's been awhile since I read _A Death in the Family_.

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 180

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Barbara Gordon, Joker, all she wanted was one hour with the Joker

* * *

She'd always thought Bruce made a mistake with Jason Todd. He was so different from Dick, so angry and dangerous, but he did seem to mature under Bruce's tutelage, to flourish. Yeah, he was a little more violent than Barbara liked, but...

Then the Joker killed him. And then the Joker shot her.

Barbara had never truly wanted to _hurt_ someone before, to rend and tear, to rip a body apart until she was covered in blood and gore and death.

But if Batman wouldn't kill the Joker for Jason's murder, he wouldn't it for a simple loss of legs.

Dick offered; Barbara told him no. If anyone should get to kill the Joker, it ought to be Barbara, since Bruce refused and Jason was dead.

Except, it turns out... he wasn't. And whatever plan he has, it's scaring the criminals of Gotham and driving Bruce mad, and then, then-

The Joker is out of Arkham.

Barbara had always thought Bruce made a mistake in Jason Todd. Now, she wishes him luck and fantasizes about getting her own hour with the Joker.


	2. just like bandaids on bruises

**Title**: just like band-aids on bruises

**Fandom**: Supernatural/_Batman: Under the Red Hood_

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: spoilers for Supernatural and the movie

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 140

**Point** **of** **view**: third

* * *

There's someone else inside him, someone just as angry and just as dark, someone who whispers,_ we could do so much better than this, kid, we could draw it out and make it last, make him beg and whimper and scream, scream so loud they'll hear it in Hell. We could do that, kid._

But his fingers are clenched around the crowbar and the Joker is spread out before him, still trying to get the upper hand with his endless monologue. And he wants the Joker to hurt, to beg and whimper and scream, but he's planned this for half a decade, him with a crowbar and the Joker at his feet.

He's planned this, and Batman is coming, and the someone inside him says quietly, _don't worry, kiddo, we'll have time later. All the time in Hell_.


	3. heir apparent

**Title**: heir apparent

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AU

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 90

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Batman dies protecting Red Hood from the explosion.

* * *

Jason just sits there, in the rubble and dust, holding Batman(_Bruce_) and thinks, horribly, that it doesn't make up for letting the Joker live so long.

When the Joker starts up his hyena-laugh, the one that's haunted Jason's every moment for years, Jason raises his gun and puts a bullet between the fucker's eyes.

And Jason just keeps sitting there, thinking, _I killed him. I killed Batman. I killed Joker._

I killed Bruce.

And raising his eyes to look at the dark sky, he thinks, _Does this mean Gotham is mine?_


	4. Lilies that fester

**Title**: Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Shakespeare.

**Warnings**: dark AU

**Pairings**: Jason Todd/Tim Drake

**Rating**: PG13

**Wordcount**: 210

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Jason Todd/Tim Drake, "I love watching you work."

* * *

They met years after Timmy left the old man, that sick bastard who trained them both. Jason'd wanted to be the one to kill him, but Timmy said that it was actually the first kid, the one who'd been with the bastard the longest. He went back late one night, not too long after Timmy finally had enough.

Jason supposes that's alright then.

o0o

Timmy has morals. Jason finds that adorable. Timmy tries to only go after monsters wearing human skin, men who beat their wives, women who hurt kids, druglords and murderers and pimps who enjoy the goods whether the girl wants it or not.

Jason isn't so picky, though. His life before the old man was too full of blood and pain, and his life with the old man? Well. All those few years did was refine his taste.

o0o

But even Timmy has to admit, this guy deserves everything they'll do to him.

Jason offers him the knife. Timmy smiles and shakes his head. "No," he says. "I love watching you work."

The guy whimpers, closing his eyes. Jason pulls Timmy in for a kiss, biting down on Timmy's lip till he bleeds.

They were taught by the same man, and sometimes Jason thinks they were born for this.


	5. Rules

**Title**: Rules

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AU for the Joker's fate after he killed Jason

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 400

**Point of view**: third

* * *

The Batman does not kill.

It is a rule, edged in granite, unbreakable: the Batman does not kill. If he were to take a life, he would no longer be Batman, and instead a criminal.

The Batman does not kill.

o0o

All men bleed and all men die. Even the Batman is not invincible; he is not an alien, but instead flesh, blood, and bone. And all men, even the alien type, feel anger. Hate. Despair.

And because they feel those darker emotions, rules—even rules edged in granite—can be broken.

o0o

When Bruce Wayne assumed the cowl of Batman, when he invented the vigilante and began prowling Gotham for crime, he wrote three rules.

The Batman does not negotiate.

The Batman does not attack unless provoked.

The Batman does not kill.

o0o

Of course, time passes. And two of the three were broken over the years. But one, the third and final rule of the Batman, remained uncrossable. Unbreakable. But the Batman towed such a fine, fine line. And black and white blur so very easily into many shades of gray.

o0o

The Batman does not kill. Not even when provoked beyond most men's endurance. Even when it would save another life. Even when it would save his own.

The Batman does not kill.

o0o

Except Bruce Wayne collapses on his bed. Except blood stains his hair and face. Except the warm, sticky blood had sprayed into his mouth as he screamed at the Joker, "You will hurt no one else!"

Except the Joker died and Bruce Wayne sleeps easily tonight, dreaming of life a mere few days ago, before an explosion and a funeral.

Tonight the Batman crossed a line. Such a fine, fine line. The line between hero and villain, perhaps. The line between genius and insanity.

The line that, once crossed, can never be crossed again.

o0o

The Batman does not kill. Perhaps, Alfred realizes, watching Bruce Wayne sleep, the Batman is no more.

Maybe he died with the first man he killed.


	6. The king has laid himself down

**Title**: The king has laid himself down and will not rise again

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Gilgamesh.

**Warnings**: AU for the movie

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 115

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Bruce & Jason, the Joker, AU - the Joker kills Batman during "A Death in the Family"

* * *

When Jason tracks him down, he shows no mercy. He shoots the Joker from a roof across the street, through both knees and shoulders. And then, while the Joker is screaming for his minions to do _something_, Jason takes them all out, bullets between eyes.

And then Jason hurries over, just in case the Joker has some trick in the wings, but the Joker is writhing on the floor, crying and shrieking, and Jason listens. To every curse, to every plea, to the Joker begging for mercy.

Bruce is dead, and Jason has none. Bruce is dead, and Jason makes it hurt. Bruce is dead, and soon—but not nearly soon enough—so is the Joker.


	7. recrimination and regret

**Title**: recrimination and regret

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; just for fun.

**Warnings**: spoilers for the fate of the second Robin; written after the first time I read "A Death in the Family"

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 130

**Point** **of** **view**: first

* * *

_I should have killed him the first chance I got, damn all my self-made rules. I should have torn him limb from limb, or ripped out his throat—so many would still be alive. So many would've had chances._

_Jason. _

_Why didn't I kill him? He didn't deserve mercy, didn't deserve all those second chances, those third chances… hundredth chances. I should have killed him, that very first time we met._

_I should have killed him. Jason would still be alive. Jason would've been able to grow up, have a life beyond the mantle. Beyond his anger and pain… beyond me._

_And after… I should have killed him, for Jason. But I let him live, another chance at life, despite all the lives he's taken…_

_I should have killed him. _


	8. pack, no matter what

**Title**: pack, no matter what

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: werewolf!AU

**Pairings**: pre-Jason Todd/Tim Drake

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 510

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Jason/Tim, werewolves

* * *

Tim's wolf is still more of a pup, so Jason follows him covertly, sticking to the shadows more than usual.

The Joker's cackle echoes in the night, and Jason shudders, holding in a whimper, but Tim actually freezes in place, ears flicking around, trying to pinpoint the sound.

Bruce is helping Dick, a territory dispute that would have resulted in far more casualties without the Old Man's aid, which means Tim has no back-up coming except Jason.

Of course the Joker would pick tonight to escape, with the Old Man gone and the moon hanging ripe in the sky, full and shining bright.

Jason owes the Old Man, for all that he didn't kill the Joker when Jason died, and this pup, he's Bruce's newest stray. And he really is just a kid, younger even than Jason was, that last night.

The Joker cackles again, the next street over and moving fast. Tim hurries the other direction, frantically looking for a hiding spot, because while he is brave, he's not a fool. The Old Man is the only one who can even start to match the Joker in raw power.

It really is beautiful, when Bruce's huge black wolf and the Joker's spotted hyena fight, and Jason knows that Bruce has almost killed the Joker a few times. He always backs away, though, scared that even the first kill will be too much temptation and he'll go rabid. Like the Joker.

Jason doesn't have that problem. And Jason may not have reached his full strength yet, but that night will come, when the moon is full and the Joker arrogant, and Jason's jaws will latch onto the Joker's cackling throat, and Jason will rip him apart and lap up his blood, his muzzle painted glinting red.

Not tonight, though. Tim's just a pup and Jason needs to make sure he gets home, because the Joker will try to do to Tim what he did to Jason, and that can't be allowed. One fucked up pup is enough in the pack.

So Jason howls, diverting the Joker's attention, and Tim makes it out of the alley as the Joker trots into it.

The moon is full. Jason gleams a dark red, almost black, beneath it, and bares his fangs at the Joker. One night, not too long from now, he will kill this monster, but for now, he merely needs to distract the beast.

He snarls, lunging forward, and the Joker meets him, still cackling, and the Old Man will be pissed when he comes back to their territory.

The Joker's blood tastes wonderful, and Jason can barely wait until he's strong enough to rend and tear and destroy, and he scarcely feels the wounds slowing him down, and the Joker just keeps cackling, rabid and wild, and Jason knows he has to escape now or he won't be able to.

So he does, the Joker's mocking following him, but soon. The night will come.

For now, though, he needs to find Tim and make sure the pup gets home.


	9. fight the good fight

**Title**: fight the good fight

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: spoilers for the film

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 75

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Bruce/Jason, Goodbyes

* * *

The coffin is empty now, though Bruce leaves up the stone with its false information.

Only Alfred knows the truth, save Bruce.

And when Batman fights back-to-back with Red Hood, when he and Red Hood force their way into confrontations that weren't theirs, when the Joker's cackle fills the night and Red Hood flinches and Batman wishes(again, still, always) that he'd killed the bastard—he fears the day Jason says goodbye for good.


	10. like the cat I have nine times to die

**Title**: like the cat I have nine times to die

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Sylvia Plath

**Warnings**: AUish

**Pairings**: pre-Jason/Tim

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 330

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Jason/Tim, A Lonely Place of Dying

**Notes**: All I know about Tim, I learned from fanfiction.

* * *

_the first time_

Alone but for the Joker's cackle, still echoing in the air. Whole body screaming, shutting down, and then, 3 2 1—

Even without the explosion, he was already dead.

_the second time_

Good Samaritans are hard to find, and far in-between, but she's a nurse and she sees him bleeding on the street and she actually keeps him alive—barely—until her sister brings around the car.

He wakes up unexpectedly and wonders, for a moment, why.

_the third, fourth, fifth, sixth time_

Pure determination and will, hatred, fanatic need for vengeance: he will not die before he sees the Joker's broken corpse.

_the seventh time_

Batman pulls him from a fire. Patches him up at the Cave. He opens his eyes to see his Robin uniform and Alfred, a few tears on his face.

_the eighth time_

He's actually on vacation in Metropolis and Superman saves him, that time, when some new supervillian knocks down a building. Superman hugs him after he regains consciousness, holding him gently and saying, "I'm so glad you're not dead, Jason, no matter what you do now. But your heart has always been in the right place. You've just lost your way a bit."

_the ninth time_

The new kid, his _replacement_, Bruce's newest _project_, has a smart mouth and no idea of when to stay quiet. And the Joker, he has no patience with smartasses, unless they're him.

And the new kid, he looks so young, standing proud before the Joker, trying to hide the fear. But Jason's been there, and he can see how terrified the kid is.

Jason keeps waiting for Bruce to swoop in and save Robin, but he knows Batman will be too late.

So he plunges down, guns blazing, and the Joker takes three bullets—one between the eyes, one in the heart, one to his dick.

And this time, when the building explodes, Red Hood is covering Robin's body with his own, so Robin survives.


	11. burn the longlived phoenix

**Title**: burn the long-lived phoenix

**Disclaimer**: not my charactrers; title from Shakespeare

**Warnings**: AUish

**Pairings**: none stated

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**:305

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Phoenix (the mythological bird), Jason Todd was resurrected but he needs to burn before he can truly be reborn

* * *

He dreams in shades of red and gold and orange and purple, in heat and flames and light so white-hot bright he wakes shielding his eyes from the glow. There is song in the dreams, a slight tune that grows and grows and _burns_ in his mind until he hears it everywhere he goes, awake or asleep, and it's driving him insane.

Well, more insane.

It gets to the point where he can't focus and can't sleep, until that goddamned song is all he can think about it, and then he meets the Joker _again_, just randomly on the street.

Jason's not even dressed like the Red Hood. He looks like any idiot in public, the perfect target for the Joker. He can't even defend himself, he's so worn-out, exhausted from not sleeping for going on two weeks.

And the Joker kills him. Again. The fucker.

But Jason can still hear that goddamned music, and he follows it back to his body lying on the sidewalk, and finally _finally_ the music quiets until he can think.

The world is tinted red and gold and orange and purple, but the heat recedes. He can still feel it, burning under his skin, but it's soothing, now. Feels like home. He's never been so comfortable.

People are screaming and the Joker is cackling, and Jason can remember a hundred thousand things he's never done, places he's never been, names he's never used. Lives he never lived.

And the music hums, trills a question. There's an invader standing on his street, in his city. An invader who killed him twice.

Jason rises to his feet and the Joker actually shuts up to stare at him. And when Jason smiles, the Joker falls back a step.

And when Jason erupts in fire, laughing, it's the Joker's turn to scream.


	12. still a bullet in your daddy's gun

**Title**: still a bullet in your daddy's gun

**Disclaimer**: not my character; title from Miranda Lambert

**Warnings**: AUish?

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 240

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Jason Todd, It gets frustrating, being the only one actually _doing_ the job.

* * *

What Bruce and all his good little minions don't seem to realize is that arresting the bad guys only makes them better criminals. Caging them only gives them time to learn and evolve and perfect their craft.

Arkham is worse than useless because they learn from each other and get three square meals a day and shelter from the elements. And they may respect Batman, but they sure don't fear him anymore because everyone knows there is a line he won't cross.

Joker killed Robin, and even then Batman let him live. Broken bones heal and the Joker bounced back, straight into Batman's waiting arms.

And everyone Batman's trained is the same. Won't take a life. They believe it means they won't be any better than the monsters they get off the street for a night.

But Red Hood, he learned his lesson on the floor at Joker's feet, beneath his fists and crowbar, in the heat of an explosion. He knows what has to be done, and he does it.

And everyone knows there is no line Red Hood won't cross to clean up the streets.

And everyone sees that Batman doesn't condone it, doesn't like it-but he doesn't stop it, either.

And in Jason's dreams, the Joker begs him for mercy. He has as little mercy asleep as he does awake, and criminals try to hide from him, but the Red Hood's gun finds them all.


	13. stained and scarred

**Title**: stained and scarred

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: references to a less-than-stellar childhood

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 265

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Jason Todd, He isn't the animal everyone thinks he is; he just likes getting his hands dirty while he gets the job done.

* * *

He knows that he's not the hero. Knows that his hands are stained and scarred with red. He knew that going in, long before Batman took a kid off the street and tried to clean him up, make him better. Turn him into a hero, like that guy whose place he could never fill. Compared to Batman, compared to Nightwing, the Red Hood is only a fallen shadow.

But he's always been a shadow. Does his best work in the dark. He learned that a long time before he tried to steal the wheels off the Batmobile. And it was nice, being a ward of Bruce Wayne. He almost felt safe for awhile.

But Bruce... Jason was broken a long time ago. Before Bruce, before the Joker, he was just a boy in pieces and no one can put him back together. Nobody.

And he's not rabid, no matter what Bruce and Alfred and even Dick think. He's not a monster, getting off on violence and blood.

He should be. By all rights, he goddamned should be. Not just anyone can get killed by the Joker and come out the other end just fine.

A crowbar and an explosion. And then the Batman's own teacher, trying to make amends and just fucking everything up even worse.

Jason knows what he is. And he knows what he's not.

Batman is the hero. Red Hood is just a bastard doing his best to clean up the streets, even though his hands are stained and scarred with blood.

(It's so much easier to kill than not.)


	14. robin redbreast

**Title**: robin redbreast

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: spoilers for film

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 115

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Red

* * *

Jason knows he came back wrong. Something important—_vital_—got left in that pit, something destroyed in the explosion. He's never been gentle, never been soft, but in his first life he knows he wasn't so hard.

When he plans his return to Gotham and assumes the persona of Red Hood, the reason is twofold. First, to avenge himself on the Joker. Second, to let Batman know not everyone deserves to live.

And he takes the name Red Hood because Joker used to go by it. It's a warning and a message, and the meaning should be plain.

Robin is back from the dead and he will be covered in blood before he's done.


	15. defining moments

**Title**: defining moments

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: mish-mash of various DCU sources

**Pairings**: none stated

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 200

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Tim & Jason, no other choice

* * *

The kid is down on his knees, coughing up blood. The Joker (and of _course_ it's the fucking Joker, it's _always_ the fucking Joker) is laughing that goddamned mad scientist cackle that haunts Jason's nightmares and his waking moments, and Batman is out of town helping Dickie-boy with some catastrophe, so he's not here to swoop in and save this Robin like he didn't the last one.

The kid is coughing up blood, and this is one of those moments, Jason knows. The kind Alfred used to talk about, the kind that let you know who you are, hero or god-awful bastard. Good guy or monster. (Maybe, he thinks Alfred might say now, some people are both.)

The Joker has a crowbar and about two dozen goons. Jason has a shitload of guns and the will to use them.

The kid is coughing up blood, and Batman isn't here.

Jason takes aim at Joker first, shooting out his shoulder, and then turns his gun on the goons.

He _will_ kill the Joker, but he'll do it with his bare hands, after he gets the kid some medical care. Jason'll be the last Robin the Joker murders, cackling that goddamned laugh.


	16. we're all paupers in the grave

**Title**: we're all paupers in the grave

**Disclaimer**: most of them aren't mine

**Warnings**: future!fic

**Pairings**: none stated

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 540

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Jason Todd, the prison chaplain doesn't know what to think of him

* * *

He's there without fail every Sunday. He sits silently, eyes closed, and sways in place, and looks so very young. Cole knows the basics of his story—everyone does. Why he didn't end up in Arkham, instead being sent to Blüdhaven and a medium-security prison is less well-known, but Cole has his suspicions.

Jason Todd. A street-kid until Bruce Wayne took him in. Thought dead in an accident while on a trip with Wayne. Showed up five years later as a crime lord and nearly took Gotham apart.

Nearly killed the Joker.

Vanished again, only to return with a vengeance and nearly killed _Batman_ this time, and that should've sent him to Arkham and a deep dark hole somewhere, but Superman—fucking _Superman_—spoke in his favor, about second chances and horrid scars, and even Batman had refused to press charges.

Bruce Wayne was at the trial, since Todd wouldn't plea bargain out. Every one of his goons and his lieutenants had been found dead beforehand, but Todd had underworld connections he could've turned over. He didn't, though. He sat through the trial and didn't speak a word, either to defend or damn himself. And he didn't once look back at Wayne.

Ten years, because there was only proof for the attempt at Batman and even though everyone knew he'd been responsible for that mess in Gotham with the Joker and Black Mask there was no evidence. Ten years, three served so far, and he's been to the service every Sunday. He hasn't requested counseling and he's taken all classes offered, and he has utterly destroyed every single man who tried to take him down. A trail of broken bodies leads to his cell, and he's had privileges revoked and spent weeks in solitary, but none of it leaves a mark. He doesn't care.

He's silent in the chapel. Cole doesn't know what he's hearing, what he's thinking, or how much longer he'll be staying.

The other prisoners have mostly stopped bothering him. He keeps to himself unless provoked so the guards have mostly quit worrying about him.

But Cole remembers a daring kid in Gotham, a terrorist who played everyone to his tune, and a criminal who almost killed the Batman. And sometimes Todd looks at him like he remembers, too, when they ran the streets together, just two lost boys who knew they'd been born and would die on the same corner.

Todd won't be in prison much longer. Cole figures he's just been resting here, where it's nearly safe.

It's a Wednesday when Todd finally has an appointment for counseling. He smiles at Cole, a little boy grin that doesn't match his ice-cold eyes, and he asks softly, "Do I deserve forgiveness, you think?"

Cole knows that answer he should give, the answer most anyone else in his position would. Instead, he asks in return, "Do you think Batman would forgive you? Or the Joker?"

Todd laughs. He doesn't say anything else until it's time to go, and then he nods at Cole and murmurs, "Hail Mary," humming _Ave Maria_ as the guards escort him away.

The next morning, Todd is gone.

A few months later, Red Hood makes another comeback and Cole prays for his soul.


	17. you don't love me in a way I understand

**Title**: you don't love me in a way I understand

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: may be out of character

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**:120

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Jason Todd, his first night at the streets

* * *

He'll say later he wasn't afraid, and only the really young or the really stupid will believe him.

He knows he's the lesson, _don't be like him_, what not to do, all the mistakes that can be made, and _aren't we wonderful? we took him back._

And maybe he shouldn't have come back, to be treated with kid gloves and wary eyes.

But he was frightened that night, and every night after, until the Batman took him home to Alfred and a roof and steady food and a way to ensure no one (except the very best of all) could ever hurt him again.

And in all honestly, though he'll never say it aloud... he doesn't want those kids to become him.


	18. one of these things

**Title**: one of these things

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: a mix of Under the Red Hood and the cartoons and what I've learned through cultural osmosis

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 220

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Jason Todd + the Bats, No matter what they say or do, he knows they'll never trust him completely. Whatever, it's not like he needs his family to trust him or anything.

* * *

Jason Todd was a killer. Red Hood had murdered with no remorse, and he'd do it again.

Batman did not kill. Robins didn't kill. Nightwing was his father's son, his teacher's pupil.

"One of these things is not like the other," Red Hood sing-songed, one gun pointed at the Riddler, the other at Nightwing. The replacement Robin kept shifting in place, like he was preparing for some move Red Hood learned while he was still in diapers. "One of these things just _isn't_the same."

Batman'd be there soon. He always saved Nightwing, back when he was Robin. He'd always saved the newest Robin, so far.

One of these things really wasn't like the others. It actually hurt, like a crowbar to the head. Like a countdown and a locked door.

Like knowing he could never kill again, and it wouldn't matter because he already had.

He lowered the guns. No one moved. Riddler was shaking in his shoes because everyone knew Red Hood was a killer. Not like the others. Not the same at all.

"Take him," Red Hood, turning his back on them all. "Lock him up for a night. Won't change a thing come morning."

"No," Nightwing called after him. "I suppose it won't."

Beneath the hood, Jason closed his eyes. It still hurt.


	19. the hour of retribution

**Title**: he awaits in trembling the hour of retribution

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Leonora Sansay

**Warnings**: torture; based mainly on Under the Red Hood

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: R

**Wordcount**: 300

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Jason Todd, Joker, the first to bleed

* * *

Jason breathes, inhaling deeply, watching the bastard. They're both smiling, but only one of 'em 'cause he wants to.

The Joker is always smiling, that grotesque grin carved on his face. This time, though, Jason doesn't think he means it.

Of course, he is a sadistic fucker, and he'll probably die laughing.

"How you doin', bucko?" Jason asks. "We havin' fun yet?"

Joker cackles, but his voice is thin, sounds wet. Something's leaking. Good. Internal bleeding is a bitch. Jason would know.

"Bats and Birds don't kill," Joker says, and Jason's listening close enough to hear the fear. Oh, but he loves that. Batman's greatest foe is afraid of him. He's in the big leagues now.

"I've never been a Bat," Jason tells him, unsheathing his favorite knife, giving Joker a long look to figure out where to strike next. "And I haven't been a Bird in a long time." He kneels down by Joker's left foot, slams the knife in and wiggles it in-between all those little bones. "You saw to that, remember?"

The Joker screaming is something Jason will never get tired of, and he listens with a smile.

He's been taught by two masters, and he learned well. Joker's death is slower than Jason's. He dies in pieces. He sobs and he begs and he promises impossible things if Jason will just stop, and then even more things if Jason will just kill him.

Batman will be furious. Jason thinks this is long overdue, and if Bruce had just taken care of it himself… well. Let Batman have the moral high ground. He does so love looking down at the black sheep of the family.

Jason has the Joker's head on a plate, bloody and mouth open in his dying gasp. That's more than enough for him.


	20. the ninth life

**Title**: the ninth life

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: fluffy?

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 295

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Jason Todd & any, Jason has a lot in common with the stray so he grudgingly lets it stay.

* * *

The cat is a tawny red, with a ripped ear and a kinked tail. He hisses at Jason and stays on the fire-escape, surveying Gotham like a king on a throne.

Jason leaves out some of the groundmeat he cooked for his spaghetti.

0o0

The cat is back the next evening. He still dismisses Jason, looking out over Gotham. This time, Jason gives him tuna and he's still there when Jason gets up in the morning.

0o0

Three weeks later, the cat slips through the open window and waits for Jason in the kitchen. He watches Jason open the can of cat food and rubs up against Jason's legs on his way to the dish.

Jason smiles.

0o0

The next week, Jason makes a vet appointment and the cat has spent four afternoons stretched out beside Jason on the couch. He's actually purred, too. Jason's shocked at much better it makes him feel, running his fingers through the cat's fur while he's purring.

The vet has good news: besides a few fleas, the cat is in good health. He doesn't have a chip and he's barely out of adolescence; the ear and tail are both relatively new and neither can be fixed.

Jason makes a follow-up appointment to have the cat neutered.

0o0

The next month, Jason decides it's time for the cat to have a name. During that night's job (another mob boss missing a few vital parts and Red Hood adding to his territory) he scrolls through anything that might work.

It's not till early in the morning, when the red cat is curled up next to him on the bed and he's stroking his finger down the cat's spine that he chooses _Loki_.

0o0

When he moves bases half a year later, Loki goes with him.


	21. His grave is thick with voices

**Title**: His grave is thick with voices

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Elizabeth Barrett Browning

**Warnings**: post-Under the Red Hood; torture

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG13

**Wordcount**: 65

**Point****of****view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Jason, Jay had accepted that Bruce will never kill the Joker. But it's still all going to _end_.

* * *

Jason gives Bruce a month. When the Joker is still alive on the thirty-second day, Jason snatches him from Arkham again.

He breaks every bone below the knee and elbow, so Joker can't run. Then, with Joker screaming, Jason takes his time.

_Please, __please_, Joker gasps, and then Jason skins his throat.

Batman is out patrolling, so Jason leaves what's left in the Cave.


	22. how can saplings bloom

**Title**: how can saplings bloom when covered deep in snow?

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Bertold Brecht

**Warnings**: implied child abuse/non-con

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 235

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: DCU, Jason Todd + Alfred Pennyworth, Jason was never a kid. Only Alfred ever seemed to realize that.

* * *

Sometimes Jason wakes up shaking in the middle of the night, sure the door just opened and he'll feel the bed dip any moment now.

Those mornings are always the worst, because he never can get back to sleep. It was better at Wayne Manor, though, because there he had Alfred.

Alfred, who always had muffins and cocoa on those mornings, and who chatted with Jason about TV shows neither of them watched and the college major Jason would probably never choose and the dog Bruce wouldn't let them get.

Alfred didn't talk down to Jason like he was a kid. Alfred didn't complain about Jason's shortcomings and how he wasn't as good as the sainted Dick Grayson at _anything _and that he needed to rein it back before he made a mistake so awful - well, it'd be awful.

Alfred trusted Jason. So Jason trusted Alfred right back.

But there is no Alfred here. Jason's alone in a penthouse, under a fake name. He doesn't trust anyone in this city... not even Alfred, really, not anymore.

He wishes, sometimes, that he'd gotten that childhood, because he's so lonely, now.

And on those nights, on those mornings, he wishes he could sneak into the Manor, for Alfred's muffins and cocoa, but instead he curls up in his bed and pretends he's happy, with a city fearing him and an ex-mentor trying to bring him down.


End file.
